SSB Employees Walk Out in Protest

If you weren’t looking for it, you probably wouldn’t have seen it; but at three p.m. today employees in the Social Security Board offices countrywide walked out. We are informed that they told their supervisors that they were not feeling well and left, quietly and without any fanfare. The employees are listed under essential services which prohibits industrial action except under certain conditions. But, apparently, S.S.B. rules allow employees who are unwell to go home after three without having to bring in a doctor paper. Following two days of peaceful midday demonstrations outside their offices, the employees are now ramping up the pressure. While none of the employees would speak to us on camera, we are reliably informed that many of them believe that the problem is S.S.B. C.E.O., Richard Flowers. Those employees have taken flak recently when it was revealed that they were protesting because they had not received a clothing allowance after their uniforms came late. According to the CWU which represents the union it is much more than that, and the protest is an indication that the staff has reached the breaking point. The CWU will be holding a press conference tomorrow, along with staff from the S.S.B.

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